Four Killed in Mortar Fire Along Macedonia-Kosovo Border

Four Killed in Mortar Fire Along Macedonia-Kosovo Border

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At least four civilians including an Associated Press Television News journalist were killed in the mortar shelling of a village on the border between Macedonia and Kosovo Thursday.

According to Tanjug, Krivenik, a village just 1,200 meters from the border, suffered mortar shells strike at mid-morning.

A bulletin released by NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) said that the mortar shells which also wounded 16 villagers came from Macedonia, but they didn't know which side fired the mortars.

Both the Macedonian army and the ethnic Albanian guerrillas, fighting intensively with each other near the Macedonia border, had denied responsibility for the Krivenik attack.

NATO expressed worries about the safety of peacekeepers who were patrolling there. The UN's Kosovo administrator Hans Haekkerup said in a statement that he was "horrified at the deaths".

Haekkerup said he would raise "the urgent need for restraint by the Macedonia forces and for dialogue to replace the shooting" when he visits the Macedonian capital Skopje on Friday.